{"id":633762,"date":"2026-05-09T23:48:08","date_gmt":"2026-05-09T23:48:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/633762\/"},"modified":"2026-05-09T23:48:08","modified_gmt":"2026-05-09T23:48:08","slug":"alyssa-thomas-leads-the-way-in-mercurys-season-opening-win-over-aces","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/633762\/","title":{"rendered":"Alyssa Thomas leads the way in Mercury&#8217;s season-opening win over Aces"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Alyssa Thomas scored 20 points, and the Phoenix Mercury walloped the Las Vegas Aces 99-66, making sure the only celebration for the reigning WNBA champions on Saturday would be their pregame ring ceremony.<\/p>\n<p>Saturday\u2019s win was the Mercury\u2019s largest season-opening victory in franchise history. The win was also a measure of revenge for <a href=\"https:\/\/arizonasports.com\/wnba\/phoenix-mercury\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Phoenix<\/a>, which <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/wnba-finals-aces-mercury-score-84c5472133aecf0d091d380583f4d018?utm_source=copy&amp;utm_medium=share\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">the Aces swept<\/a>\u00a0in last season\u2019s WNBA Finals.<\/p>\n<p>Mercury rookie Jovana Nogic, who most recently played in Russia and is on the Serbian national team, scored all of her 19 points in the first half. She was one of six Mercury players to score in double figures. Natasha Mack had 10 points and 15 rebounds.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Jovana Nogic \ud83d\udd25<br \/>\u2716\ufe0f First career start<br \/>\u2716\ufe0f 3 for 3 from 3<br \/>\u2716\ufe0f She\u2019s got 16 so far!<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s the second quarter. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/QlWKYNOxpD\" rel=\"nofollow\">pic.twitter.com\/QlWKYNOxpD<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Phoenix Mercury (@PhoenixMercury) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/PhoenixMercury\/status\/2053213726019564021?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">May 9, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-2 whitespace-pre-wrap\">This was the Mercury\u2019s largest margin of victory since defeating the Indiana Fever 95-60 on Aug. 7, 2025, and it\u2019s the Aces\u2019 worst defeat since a 111-58 loss to the Minnesota Lynx on Aug. 3, 2025. Las Vegas then finished the regular season with 16 consecutive wins.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-2 whitespace-pre-wrap\">Four-time MVP A\u2019ja Wilson led the Aces with 19 points, Jackie Young scored 12, and NaLyssa Smith scored 11.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-2 whitespace-pre-wrap\">Before the game, Aces players and coaches were given their championship rings, which included a removable top so the top could be worn rather than simply put on display. The left side of the ring includes the players\u2019 names and positions in 14-karat white gold.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re back!\u201d Aces majority owner Mark Davis said to the crowd during the ceremony as minority owner Tom Brady stood nearby.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-2 whitespace-pre-wrap\">Because this game took place at T-Mobile Arena, the Aces \u2014 which have won three of the past four titles \u2014 won\u2019t raise their championship banner until playing the Los Angeles Sparks on May 23 at their usual home, Michelob Ultra Arena.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-2 whitespace-pre-wrap\">The Mercury made sure the Aces\u2019 celebration was short-lived as Phoenix, which never trailed, took command with a 14-2 run to open the second quarter and go up 41-23.<\/p>\n<p>Up next for Mercury<\/p>\n<p>Following the win, the Mercury travel to Chase Center in San Francisco to face the Golden State Valkyries on Sunday. Tipoff is at 5:30 p.m. MST and can be seen on Arizona\u2019s Family 3TV.\n                    <\/p>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Alyssa Thomas scored 20 points, and the Phoenix Mercury walloped the Las Vegas Aces 99-66, making sure the&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":633763,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[73],"tags":[99,434],"class_list":["post-633762","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wnba","tag-sports","tag-wnba"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/633762","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=633762"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/633762\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/633763"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=633762"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=633762"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=633762"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}